Chương 44: Survive

Those around me scramble, working to secure the area for a last stand I think. To give everyone as much time as possible to escape. I stare for a minute until suddenly a weight crashes into my chest.

"Master! You are alive!?" Dovey shouts as he nuzzles my chest with much fervor. Yip Yip! Luma adds on, sounding like she wants in on the party. I let her out of the phylactery and she immediately starts nuzzling my neck, helping me to heal in the process. I sigh, "By some miracle, I am. But not for long if we don't get moving."

"Follow meee, then! I found Carla and told her some of what happened." Dovey commands, "She told me to tell you to come see her asap, whatever that means. Oh and that you are a big idiot." Figures, now that I think about it, telling an entire city of people to run for their lives with no plans was probably a bad idea. Oh well, I am sure Carla can fix it. Without further ado, I Plane Step out of the group of very intimidating warriors. I think I caught a glimpse of them using some master tier magic rituals.

On one hand, I would like to stay around to help. But I know I cannot, and have a far more important task. That being, to help as many people survive this as possible. — My legs pump beneath me as fast as they will go. I duck into an alleyway, hoping to throw off my pursuer. But it does not work, the damn monster just won't get off my ass. I duck as a rock flies over my head, damn how I hate earth magic. The sandiness of it just gets everywhere. Pretty sure I have dirt in all sorts of unspeakable places.

But I simply must ignore it, and keep running. When I identified the monster, it was level sixty. The only reason I am able to outrun it is because it is some sort of giant snail. I would've stopped to ask its name, but it tried to eat me. After a few more minutes, an idea comes to my mind. Channeling a bit of mana, I form a Waterball. Then, taking a sharp turn into an alley, I toss the water behind me, as much of it as my mana will allow. I don't stop running, even as I hear a loud crash behind me.

Only once I am about three hundred meters away do I dare to slow down even a bit. I know it is still chasing me, but it isn't like my new body can run forever. Heading inside a building, I pull out the heating stone that Claire gave me. These buildings are made of metal. And while I am no engineer, I am a smith, and thus I know that heating up metal usually makes it weaker. So I find the beam that seems to be holding up the building, and place the heating stone on it.

I wait for several seconds until the metal starts to heat up, and I feel the building shudder. I grab the stone and vacate the building, just as I feel the snail ram its way inside. Instinctively, I cover my ears as the entire building behind me lets out a deafening creak as the snail thrashes about inside. With a thundering boom, the entire thing collapses right onto the monster. Unfortunately, no ding comes, so somewhere in the giant pile of rubble, it lives.

Which is absolutely not my problem and I jog away without looking back. This world is a dangerous one, full of levels, magics, beasts and terrors that I cannot even fathom. Up until now I don't think that has fully set in. After all, when I can recover from most damage, what is there to fear? A whole lot of shit, is the answer. If a single one of those rocks would've hit me, I am certain I would be dead. If even someone like Calder can be instantly killed, I am no exception.

Perhaps I have been far too risky, I even got a trait for it. I won't retreat into a shell of meter thick armor, of course. I still have to fight, to survive. If this world wants to kill me, then it can damn well try. As I run, I encounter far too many monsters. They are obviously being drawn by whatever hero quality I possess. Most of them are far too high level for me, and even the ones that I could fight are often accompanied by higher levels. Enjoying the story?

Show your support by reading it on the official site. Which makes sense, in effect, all of our progress has been rendered null. What was once reclaimed territory is now all front lines. Thus full of monsters in quantities far too high. As I run, I try really hard to ignore the sounds of explosions and screams in the distance. Every fiber of my being wants to try to help, but I know that I cannot. I am simply too weak. So, I run, and survive.

I get over the wall to the sixth ring and follow Dovey as he leads me to a small camp, eerily similar to the one where I first met Carla. It is quite a bit larger than before, but so is this war. Dovey leads me into the main tent, and suddenly all the chatter inside stops. People turn to look at me, as one does when a hero enters the room. They were busy looking at some maps or something, probably talking about evacuation strategies.

"Took you long enough." Carla says, stepping away from the table to come slap me on the back.

"Now come on, we need to figure out how to survive this damn mess." — The air is oddly tense as the scrape of writing utensils against paper fills the room. People exchange notes, short conversations, all the while referencing the projection that my skill provides. Through all of it, Carla is definitely still the center, but the sheer know-it-all level of this tent is insane. Honestly, it is kind of nice. Just some peace and quiet to think through my thoughts.

Though it does make it harder to not think about what has just happened. I keep trying to push those memories away, just for a bit. Reli gave me a task: save these people. My own problems can wait until after that. Eventually, I can tell that something is happening. Despite this weird process, people are working together to come up with solutions. They compare with each other, restart and then compare again.

The entire atmosphere slowly starts to shift, from one of complete despair and focus, to slightly less despair and something I would like to call fervor. A desire fills the air, one not born of fear, but one of wanting to help people. After about an hour, the odd atmosphere breaks me and I turn to Carla.

"Sorry if this is a rude question, but like, are you all actually doing anything? How do you plan things with so little conversation?" She turns away from her notebook for a moment and stares at me. Then she sighs like she has explained this far too often.

"Commander type classes are kinda strange like that. The skills give us the ability to plan and think on scales that no mortal being should be able to. But the problem is that there is no way to communicate that amount of information in real time. Even telepathy spells and other similar things simply cannot keep up." She gestures around the room, "Hence why we all write plans and ideas down, and then compare with others. It's the only way for us to really work together.

Though commanders of our power working together is rare anyways, this situation is just that fucked up."

"Ah, I see." Guess I never really thought about it like that. It does make sense though, I bet all those in this room have ridiculously high mental stats. Which is precisely why they are just the ones that can tackle this problem. I do feel sorta strange just standing here, watching others work. Part of me does feel like it is just being used for my super special skills. Mostly because that is exactly what is happening. As I think more on the topic, I realize that I am kinda useless. Like, sure, I can do things.

But there like, isn't anything I am particularly needed for. The only use I have in this new world is my hero skills and whatever else comes with being a hero. Without those, I would just be a normal guy I guess. Which I need to change. Not saying that I need to become some bigshot or form a cult or something. But I definitely need to be someone outside of my hero stuff. So that when I take off the cloak, I still have a purpose. I think that makes sense, probably. However, I have no fucking clue how to do that.

The first step is to obviously conceal my hero's presence somehow. I can't very well build myself up while everyone only sees me as the hero of spirit. Cough, the cloak. Oh right! When I turned my hero's cloak invisible, it was like no one knew who I was. I was simply your average low level adventurer. Sure, it was probably strange at that point for me to be a bit older and at like level ten. But now I am level forty, which is far more reasonable for my age. Some might even consider it impressive.

That weird voice just gave me the answer again, how handy. Kinda seems too convenient… and I really should be wary of it. The goddess did say it would always help me. But, if there is one thing that I have learned about the goddess, it is that she seems to like me being in pain. Which is fine, she put me in this world to get stronger, and to help protect it. Thus, if the malice wants to throw a fucking dragon at me, then I will simply have to grow stronger.

I will have to survive this incursion, execute whatever evacuation plan these geniuses come up with. Then, I suppose I simply disappear. No cloak, no hero business. I simply become Orn, nothing more, nothing less. If there is anything this incursion has taught me, it is that I am not ready to be a hero yet. Whether it be a failing of the goddess, or an intentional plan of hers, I simply cannot be The Hero Of Spirit. I am not running away, though. Merely, uh, delaying my responsibilities. Yeah, that sounds fine.

Seeking reassurance, I glance at Luma and she rolls her eyes at me. Which must be fox-speak for 'yeah, that makes sense.' So, with this new plan in mind, I sit down in a chair and wait. In my boredom, I end up drifting off for just a short nap. There is no better time for sleep than in the middle of an apocalypse, after all.